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Saturday, August 16, 2014

Scuba Knit

Hola! Last Sunday I finished the garment using the fabric from Britex. I expect this to be posted soon.

Meanwhile, I am having a lot of fun sewing up some scuba knit. I have been seeing a lot of scuba knit in high-end ready to wear.

But what is scuba knit?

Scuba is a double-knit fabric. Some people compare it to ponte, which is also a double-knit, but these fabrics have different qualities. Scuba knit is generally polyester and lycra, where ponte is often a blend of rayon, nylon, poly, and lycra. (Though I have seen poly/lycra ponte fabric, but my favorite generally contains rayon and nylon.)

Scuba knit is created with a very fine gauge, smooth thread and the resulting surface is generally smoother than a ponte. It also has a "sproingy" quality, similar to what you see in a neoprene ("wet suiting") fabric, but it's thinner and more malleable than traditional neoprene. It has a lot of body, and doesn't hang the way a ponte does.

Scuba, being a polyester fabric, takes dye very well and comes in beautiful prints and vivid colors. I have two pieces from Emma One Sock, but I have also seen some beautiful scuba knits on the Britex web site.

Like ponte, scuba is a dream to sew. I have seen very high end garments made from scuba knit that left the edges raw, on a hem, for example. It is also a good candidate for finishing with a binding.

Have you made any projects with scuba or seen any interesting garments made from scuba?

34 comments:

I own a piece but I haven't used it yet. Primarily because every RTW piece I've seen shows it made up in a super tight garment...I don't do super tight so my piece sits waiting for inspiration. Will be interested to see how you used it!

I've steered clear since it is poly. I don't do poly as it is too hot for me, and I generally don't like how it feels. However, I've enjoyed seeing the creations made by those who do sew with this new, popular knit.

Thanx for the explanation on the difference between scuba and neoprene. I was wondering. I'm confused though.. I thought polyester wasn't good for dying. Is it only for home dying? Or am I confusing it with something else?

Polyester *used* to be difficult for home dyers. Dyes like Procion don't work on poly. But manufacturers (who are creating the fabric) have processes/products that they can use to dye poly and it does work well. And there are *now* products available that regular folk can use to dye polyester. I used such a product a year ago and was amazed how well it worked, though it created some truly noxious fumes in my kitchen. I wouldn't do it lightly.

I think one of the Project Runway garments last week had either neoprene or scuba sleeves. They were molded looking and stood away from the model, giving a severe 40s look. shams, I have some endurance riding pants made with something similar. They have been through 2 wrecks and are still usable!

Ehh, I just can't quite wrap my head around wearing a wet suit by choice. But since it is all over RTW I feel like I have to give it a try. Maybe in a slim silhouette - like a pencil skirt? What do you think?

Love the dress! I just got some scuba knit from Fabric Mart and was thinking about making the Marcy Tilton shingle dress with it. Do you think scuba would work well for that pattern? I've made it once with an ITY knit and it worked beautifully. Perhaps the scuba knit is too thick and stable?

Hi Lilly! It varies, but it is generally very high percentage on the poly. One fabric I saw was 96% polyamide and 4% lycra. It has a slightly rubbery feel to it, but it also has a nice body. It is not a particularly breathable fabric, which is why I wouldn't want a dress or top made entirely out of scuba, but I'd be find with it as a skirt or a jacket that was not skin tight, or mixing it with other fabrics, as I did when I mixed it with a wool double knit in a dress.

Do you have any tips for sewing scuba knit? I've never worked with it before and the hand is strange to me. Mine squishes when I sew it and I have taken the pressure off of it quite a bit and it still stretches funny. Maybe it's because I am trying to sew Velcro and elastic to it?

Sorry for this late response, Panda! Hmmm.... Maybe. Scuba does have a bit of a strange hand, it is kind of squishy. I have not tried sewing velcro to it, but it seems like it should work. (Scuba is often used to make laptop holders, and I suspect they do use velcro...) Sorry I'm not more help.

Hi Shams, I purchased some fabric that I think is scuba knit from Fabrix a couple of months ago. I plan to make a pair of narrow/skinny pants one of these days. Do you have any ideas about care/washing? I'm hoping that, since its poly/lycra, it should be ok to machine wash and dry. Am I overly optimistic? Thanks for your thoughts.Your old pal, Ellen

Heya, Ellen! I have bought scuba fabric from Fabrix, so it wouldn't surprise me if you've found some. Yes, I definitely pre-washed mine in the washer and dryer! If you are worried, you can start with a scrap, but it should be fine.

Hi Angela! That's a bit dicey. Scuba is typically mostly polyester, with maybe some lycra. (But it's not a regulated term, so you can't assume even that. But Scuba rarely contains any neoprene.) At any rate, polyester is tricky to dye. It is possible - I've dyed polyester fabrics - but you need some fairly toxic smelling dyes to do so. Dharma Trading has dyes for polyester fabrics. Good luck!

I'm using scuba knit for the first time and it's a struggle. My machine is hating it. A lot. It's skipping lime crazy, I've switched from ball point to microtex needles. Still doing it. Polyester thread. Still doing it. I tested cotton, sews fine. It has to be something with the scuba. My machine is a Singer HD 4423 mechanical, non computerized

Hi Unknown! I didn't have this problem, but I found this post, by Catherine Daze, has some useful tips! https://blog.cyberdaze.org/2011/01/02/sewing-neoprene/ I hope you found a way to handle these problems!

I wore scuba knit black and white beautiful dress to church and boy did it make me sweat! The fabric makes you drip with sweat especially if the area is already hot. I had on under garments, but the sweat kept coming down my legs it was awful. The garments that is made with the fabric is great, but it makes sweat terribly.

Hi Kimberly! Yes, I've found the same to be true. This is why, when I made a dress using scuba knit, I mixed it with a wool ponte. It's fine to wear because the wool breathes and that's the part under my arms. ;) In general, I am not a huge fan of scuba for this reason. You can see the dress I made here: http://communingwithfabric.blogspot.com/2014/08/scuba-dooba-doo-scuba-ponte-knit-dress.html